Process for producing fatty acids of high purity and melting-point.



JOEL swam. or nnwxonx, n. Y.

V PROCESS FOR PRODUCING FATTY ACIDS OF HIGH PUBITY MELTING-POINT.

Specification of Letters Iatent.

any of the otherfat splitting processes yield- .Nc Drawing. Application filed March 1, 1916. Serial No. 81,336.

To all whom it may concern: 2 Be it known that l, JOEL STARRELS, a c1t1- zen of the United States, and. a resident of New York,"in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes. for Producin Fatty Acids of High Purity and Meltingoint, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a method of prohigh purity suitable for the manufacture of candles and high grade toilet soaps and for similar purposes and relates particularly to a product prepared from hydrogenated fatty oil.

When a fatty oil such as corn, cottonseed -or cocoanut oil and the like is subjected to the action of hydrogen in the presence of a catalyzer such as finely-divided nickel, cer tain bodies of a hydrocarbon nature are formed, presumably by the catalytic reduction of the acid or carboxyl group and these hydrocarbons especially the partially saturated ones seemingly tend to discolor at the temperature of the hydrogenation process forming dyestufls or coloring agents of a brown or black character which seriously impair the quality of the fatty material from the soap makers standpoint.

\ to produce .formed in greater or less .5 comparatively low It is the object of the present invention free fatty acids and particularly stearic acid or equivalent fatty material from a fatty oil, which fatty acids are substantially free from these deleterious unsaponifiable hydrocarbons and discoloring agents and which are capable of forming a perfectly s'aponified soap of a fine texture.

and gram such as could not be advantageously obtained in the presence of the unsaponifiable agents and coloring compounds aforesaid.

The hydrogenating treatment is not a part of my invention and no claimis laid to this treatment of the oil.

of high melting point. At the same time the objectionable constituents referred to are degree, thereby contaminating the product and rendering it grade. The material is then saponified by the Twitchell process or Patented Dec. iaiaie.

not exceeding an equal wei ht or thereabout,

preferably being heated with the solvent so as to dissolve therein until a substantially homogeneous liquid is obtainedwhen the material is carefully cooled and the free fatty acids are separated in a state of purity leaving in solution the greater part of the hydrocarbons and occluded coloring agents.

An example, illustrative of the present invention is the following :Corn oil was hydrogenated using a nickel catalyzer until the melting point was about 62 (3., it wasthen subjected to the Twitchell process and the fatty acids obtained. These arebrown in color. Approximately equal parts of denatured alcohol and the fatty acid were incorporated and heated to form a homogeneous solution which takes place rather readily at temperaturesapproaching the boiling point of alcohol as the fatty acid is relatively soluble in alcohol, while glycerids are highly insoluble. Thesolution was again cooled until practically allof the fatty acid had separated, when the material was pressed and a brown extract containing the hydrocarbons and dyestufi'swas removed leaving a white fatty acid of very high saponification value and acid number showing that the unsaponifiable material formed by the stage of hydrogenation had been eliminated.

Proceeding along similar lines the fatty acids of cottonseed, fish, whale and other vegetable or animal oils may be treated to form high grade fatty acids suitable for the manufacture of first class toilet'soaps.

In order to produce fatty acids of desirable quality practically free from olein and other liquid or soft fattyacid it is neces-' sary to force the" hydrogenation-step to the For this purpose 1- preferably hardena utmost in order to reduce the iodin number practically to zero, and such forcedoperation tends to aggravate the formation of unsaponifiable material such as hydrocarbons leading to the subsequentdifiiculties in saponification of such material in the ordinarycourse in the manufacture of soap unless the method of eliminating hydrocarbons illustratively described. herein belemployed.

In the. manufacture of high grade stearic acids by the process heretoforepractised it is customary to twitchellize or saponify by any one of the processes in vogue a relatively soft fat containing such a quantity of oleic acid that the material could be seeded and pressed to yield fairly good quality stearic acid. By the present process it is unnecessary to go to the great expense of installing and operating the seeding pans and presses as the hardening operation enables the stearic acid to be produced of highmelting ioint while the selective removal of hydroca on material and dyestuffs enables this material .to be converted into merchantable fatty acids of the desired grade. The fatty ac1ds produced by this process are white in color and well adapted for the manufacture of candles.

What I claim is 1. The process of making white fatty acids suitable for the manufacture of high grade toilet soaps which comprises hardening .a liquid oil, separating the fatty acid by twitchellizing and subjecting such fatty acid to the action of solvent material capable of removing the unsaponifiable matter formed during the hardening operation.

2. The process of making fatty acids suitable for the manufacture of high grade toilet soaps which comprises subjecting a llqllld fatty glycerid to the action of hydrogen in the presence of nickel whereby the liquld glycerid is converted into a solid "glycerid, in forcing the hydrogenation to almost completely reduce the iodin number to zero; whereby hydrocarbon bodies and coloring matters are formed, in subjecting the resulting hard glycerid to a fat splittin process whereby the glycerin is separate rom the fatty acids and in eliminating the hydrocarbons and coloring matter formed by the hydrogenation stage whereby pure I acids of high melting point are obfatty tained.

3. The process of making stearic acid, light in color, suitable for the manufacture of candles, which comprises subjectin aliquid fatty glycerid to the action ofhy rogen in the presence of nickel whereby the liquid glycerid r is converted into a solid glycerid, in forcing the hydrogenation to almost completely reduce the iodin number to zero whereby hydrocarbon bodies. and

coloring matters are formed, in subjecting f the thus obtained fatty glycerid to a fat splitting process whereby the glycerin is separated from the fatty acids, and ineliminating the hydrocarbons and coloring mat'- I ters formed by the hydrogenation stage whereby pure fatty acids of high melting point and goodcolor are obtained.

4.1 The process of making stearic acid suitable for the manufacture of candles or high grade toilet soaps which comprises subjecting an unsaturated solid fat or semi-solid fat such-as tallow or grease to the action of hydrogen in the presence of finely divided nickel whereby the unsatufatty acids and in removing the coloring matter formed by the hydrogenation stage whereby pure fatty acids of high melting point and good color are obtained.

.5. The process of makingfatty acids adapted for use in the manufacture of high grade toilet soaps, candles and the like, which comprises hydrogenating a fatty oil containing unsaturated material, separating v thefa'tty acid by twitchellizing, subjecting such fatty acid to the action of volatile sol vent material capable of dissolving impurities and'in removing the solvent material with such impurities.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 26th day of February, A. D. 1916.

Witnesses:

Ismon BLUM, I SAMUEL D. Kiasermn.

V'JOEL STARRELS. n 

